"The Thinker", a sculpture by Auguste Rodin is seen outside the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit. / Carlos Osorio, AP

by Paul Egan, Kathleen Gray and Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press

by Paul Egan, Kathleen Gray and Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press

LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and legislative leaders reached an agreement Tuesday on the framework for a deal to help protect Detroit pensioners and the Detroit Institute of Arts collection from ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, sources told the Detroit Free Press, and he is expected to make an announcement Wednesday.

Talks with individual lawmakers on a funding package that could amount to $350 million over 20 years were expected to continue Wednesday morning. But Snyder hoped to announce a deal in the afternoon, before leaving for a two-day trip to Washington, D.C., sources said.

Snyder and the leaders of the House and Senate agreed Tuesday on the outline of an agreement they could take back to their caucuses to gauge support, according to three sources familiar with the talks.

Snyder is expected to hold a Lansing news conference related to Detroit on Wednesday.

Snyder, a Republican, earlier proposed a state commitment of about $350 million over 20 years, lawmakers said after briefings on Jan. 15. That would roughly match the $330 million in commitments already made by national and local foundations under a plan brokered by U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen, who is acting as a mediator in the historic Detroit bankruptcy case.

No details of the potential agreement were released and Snyder's announcement Wednesday may be short on details, a source said. Officials have been reluctant to discuss details because mediation talks overseen by a federal judge are confidential.

"We're having ongoing dialogues and discussions on a regular basis," Wurfel said. "About Detroit, stay tuned. An announcement is coming."

Greimel said, "We're interested in continuing discussions and dialogue and seeing if there might be a way to protect the retirees, while putting in place safeguards to make sure Detroit makes better financial decisions moving forward."

He added: "There is a possibility of an announcement this week, but that would come from the governor's office."

The state money would come from the state's tobacco settlement fund or some other source not tied to annual tax revenues. That way, the ongoing money could be approved once and would not require an annual appropriation.

Any deal is intended to help protect Detroit retirees from cuts to their pensions as part of a bankruptcy settlement and avoid a sell-off of art at the city-owned DIA. As part of the deal, the DIA would be spun-off from city control into an independent nonprofit.

The DIA also is widely expected to contribute to the rescue fund, but the specific terms - including the overall total and time frame - remain in negotiations in the Rosen-led mediation. Figures as high as $100 million over 20 years have swirled as a possible target for the museum, but DIA leaders have rejected those numbers as not feasible, given its commitment to raising hundreds of millions of dollars in endowment funds over the next decade, plus $12 million annually for operations.

Some lawmakers have said they want greater public access to DIA artwork around the state, and greater state control over how Detroit's General Retirement System is managed as part of any agreement involving state money.

"I'd like to expose more people to that culture throughout the state," Richardville said last week. "I would cheer that kind of effort."

Several lawmakers have been skeptical about the idea.

"If I'm going to put money into this, I'm not going to put money into something else," Republican Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said last week. "The case hasn't been made."

A deal would have to be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, who is handling the case.

On Wednesday, Rhodes is to consider a motion by a group of creditors to establish an independent committee to assess the value of the DIA's property, a potential step toward the sale of art to help reduce Detroit's debt.